My Bucket List

Chapter 8 - Ashton

A loud squeal coming from the living room had me slamming my laptop and running towards the source. Did someone break in and hurt Harlow? I'll never forgive myself if she got hurt under my watch. I just turned into the living room when a body slammed against me. When I looked down I saw that it was Harlow and she seemed alright but I wasn't sure; I pushed her behind me and looked for the intruder. When I only saw Gideon making his way towards me with laughter and a hint of outrage in his eyes, I stood there confused, still shielding Harlow behind me. I felt her body shaking against my back and I turned around to check if she was OK. When I got a better look at her, it turned out that she was actually laughing.

"You cheated, I know you did!" Gideon said loudly pointing an accusatory finger at Harlow. She wrapped her hands around my waist and used me as a human shield as she peeked around at Gideon laughing to herself.

"I did not cheat. You rolled the dice!" she yelled back at him and then hid behind me.

"Yeah, but you moved my ship without me checking that you were actually counting correctly!"

"If you want to have a rematch that's fine with me. Just make sure you bring some tissues to wipe your tears when I beat you again."

"Why you little..." Gideon grumbled coming after Harlow once again. Harlow just let out a bark of laughter and pressed her whole body against my back.
Gideon stood in front of me and tried to reach for Harlow but she kept twisting my body to shield her from Gideon's advances, both of them laughing this time.

"I know you cheated. There's no way that I could land on all your properties 4 times in a row."

"Hey, don't blame me for your crappy luck. You should have tried rolling doubles."

I had enough of their bickering. I put my hand up and motioned for the both of them to be quiet. Gideon took two steps back, his eyes still trained on Harlow and she did the same. I acted as a buffer between the two.

"Can somebody tell me what the hells going on?"  I asked looking between the two. They both started talking at the same time so I told them to stop.

"OK, now let's try this again. Sweets, what's going on?" I said to the little sugar addict that I've nicknamed 'Sweets' just to annoy her but I know she secretly likes. I turned to Gideon and held my hand up in a shushing notion, when I saw that he was about to talk too. "You can wait your turn bro." He hmphed and nodded his head. I turned back to Harlow, "Now tell me why you were screaming bloody murder?"

"Gideon's just being a sore loser. We were playing a game of Monopoly and I own one whole side of the board and he owns the other. He so happened to land on 4 of my properties and went bankrupt. He couldn't handle losing to the newbie, now he's crying about it," Harlow said smirking in Gideon's direction.

I nodded my head and turned towards Gideon, "Now you can talk."

"She cheated!" He cried out pointing his hand at her once again, laughter still evident in his eyes.

"Didn't I tell you two yesterday that you need to play nice. Gideon, you need to stop playing with Harlow if you can't take a loss. Sweets, you need to stop making fun of him. You know he can be a bit of a sissy," I said smiling in her direction and she smiled back.

This has been our routine for the past two weeks. We get up and have breakfast together. Harlow gets picked up by the girls and they go out. I stay home and catch up on some work, while Gideon relaxes and helps where he can. When Harlow gets back the two play a new board game or card game which always ends up with me having to play referee between the two. At 5 o'clock, we head over to mum and dads where Harlow gets cooking lessons from mum; while dad, Gideon and I workout and sometimes go out and do some rowing. By the time we get back, dinners ready, we eat and then we come back home. The three of us usually watch a whole television series or have a movie marathon before we go to bed.